


The H.O.T.G.I.R.L.S Club

by punkcowboy



Series: WIPs [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (with love), All the girls are badasses, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And Tease Him Mercilessly, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula Is Really Cool OK, F/F, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn, Suki Is Awesome I will not hear otherwise, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, They Take Pity On Him, Too many friendships to tag so just focused on the Zuko ones sorry, Um what else, Will tag more as I update, Yue Is Alive, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko on the other hand is a Mess, ahhh yOuNg lOvE, because I said so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkcowboy/pseuds/punkcowboy
Summary: Zuko had only missed band practice twice in the past five years- once because a snowstorm had forced school to cancel for a few days, and the other time because his Father was a Piece of Shit (but that was neither here nor there)Today, Zuko did not make it to band practice.He didn't make it because in the hallway between the chemistry lab and the music room, he was ambushed. One second, he was minding his own business, and the next mysterious, unseen forces had pushed him into the art room and locked the door.These forces took the form of two grinning teenage girls. Namely, Ty Lee and Suki.Zuko didn't find that revelation very comforting.-In which Zuko has a crush, is tricked into joining a club, and is generally a hot mess. But at least his friends are- oh, wait, no, they're all insane. Great.
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee & Zuko, Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Series: WIPs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851565
Comments: 10
Kudos: 102





	1. Indoctrination

**Author's Note:**

> OOOOO lol here we go people

For Zuko, most days had a routine to them.

He got up, did his time at school, went home. Worked at Uncle’s tea shop Monday and Wednesday, and whenever else he was needed. Tuesday and Thursday afterschool was band practice, Friday’s were track and then whatever mess Aang or Toph dragged him into- whoever got to him first, really, Agni help him if they showed up together- which normally would take the rest of the weekend to blow over.

Today was a Thursday; band practice.

As had been the norm since they had been put in the same class, Zuko had stayed behind for a few minutes in chemistry to pack up the equipment that Aang had left out- this time, in his hurry to catch Katara before she left (as was often the case after final period classes). Once he was done, Miss Jackson followed him out, patient- as always- and locked the door behind them. She waved goodbye, Zuko nodded, then sighed and headed to the music room to get set up for band. As always.

Zuko had only missed band practice twice in the past five years- once because a snowstorm had forced school to cancel for a few days, and the other time because his Father was a Piece of Shit (but that was neither here nor there)

Today, Zuko did not make it to band practice. 

He didn't make it because in the hallway between the chemistry lab and the music room, he was ambushed. One second, he was minding his own business, the next mysterious, unseen forces had pushed him into the art room and locked the door.

These forces took the form of two grinning teenage girls. Namely, Ty Lee and Suki.

Zuko didn't find that revelation very comforting.

“What the fuck?”

“Language, Zuzu!” he heard from behind him, making him whirl round faster than should be possible while carrying a trombone. He also managed to avoid knocking anything over.

Azula, arms crossed and looking extremely nonplussed, daintily raised one eyebrow at this (very) impressive feat.

Yue- not seeming to care that she didn't even _go to this school_ \- sat at one of the tables to Azula’s left, her arms and apron covered in clay as she sculpted- something. Zuko wasn’t entirely sure what it was, and he was definitely too afraid to ask. Her head moved to the music blasting through her earphones. Zuko could hear it, it was that loud- it sounded like a lot of yelling and clashing cymbals and heavy guitar. Zuko wasn’t sure if she was even aware of everybody else in the room until she looked up, flashing him a grin and waving at him as if everything was just peachy, getting clay on the floor as she did so.

“Hey Zuko!” She shouted. He waved back uncertainly. He was definitely confused, but there was no reason to be rude about it. Yet. He'd hardly ever spoken to Yue- even when she _did_ go to school here- but when they had talked she always seemed to genuinely care about what he was saying, and took it to heart. He had nothing against her, really.

“Hi, Yue. What are you doing here?”

She rolled her eyes- not unkindly, Yue didn’t do anything unkindly- as if it was obvious. “Pottery.” was all she said, before returning to her- well. Pottery. Thing. She looked happy, at least.

Next to her sat Toph- on the table, her legs swinging back and forth and her grin looking as menacing as always. She looked in his general direction and winked.

OK, they were up to something. Something that Zuko was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be happy about.

The most worrying thing to Zuko, though, wasn’t the assortment of girls that were confronting him- although they were definitely a terrifying group. No, what was worrying to him was the girl that was _missing._

Because Mai wasn’t here. Azula was here, and Ty Lee was here, so where was Mai? Were they trying to confront him without her knowing? Did they think he was jealous of Ty Lee and trying to win Mai back or something? Was this an organised _hit_ on him? Some kind of WLW solidarity murder pact? He’d thought Yue was straight but, hey, he’d thought _himself_ to be straight until not that long ago so, maybe he wasn’t the best judge and anyway Uncle was always telling him that _you should never make assumptions_ and he was right, as always, because he’d thought _Mai_ was straight until she broke up with him for Ty Lee- not that he was bitter, because he and Mai hadn’t been working for a while, and anyway he’d already told Mai that he liked-

“Hey, Sparky! Snap out of it!” Toph had somehow moved from her perch without him noticing and now stood in front of him. She punched him in the arm, bringing Zuko fully back to reality. Fuck, she was tiny, but she was strong as hell. “Get the fuck out of your head, idiot, we’re trying to indoctrinate you!”

He rubbed his arm and looked up to Azula, frowning. She shrugged. Ty Lee giggled and skipped forward from the door, linking her arm in his.

“Indoctrinate? Like a cult?”

Toph scoffed, leaning back on the table, “ _you_ might be worshipping him, but none of _us_ are. You’re the only loser who’s gotten themselves in that deep.”

“Um.” Zuko wanted to argue but against _what,_ he wasn’t sure. He felt himself going red and scratching the back of his head, embarassed- even though he didn’t quite know why he was embarrassed. It felt like he should be, though, hence- blushing and stammering and altogether being a mess.

“Don’t be mean, Toph, he doesn’t even know what you’re talking about,” Suki chided, coming forward from behind Zuko and jumping up to sit on the table Yue was working at. Yue looked up briefly and frowned at her, then at Zuko, then went back to her lump of clay.

“Yes, well, are you going to get on with it or should I?” Azula tossed her hair, looking over at Suki pointedly. Suki, under a glare that would have reduced a lesser person to ash, just rolled her eyes.

“Shut it Azula, I’m getting to it. Got to, y’know, build suspense- you should know all about that, being the resident drama queen of this shithole.”

The fact that Azula only pursed her lips a little at Suki’s remarks really showed how much she’d grown recently. Zuko was proud of her, and would have congratulated her or something, maybe even shed a tear! If he could just actually figure out _what in the ever-loving fuck was going on._

“Right!” Suki smiled, clapping her hands together. She pushed herself off the table, landing in what looked like a plie position- heels together, knees bent, toes pointed out. She straightened up and spread her arms wide in a sweeping gesture that had Ty Lee having to pull Toph out of the way of being hit in the face “without further ado- Zuko Iwamatsu, I welcome you to the Hot Girls Club!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :) Any feedback is much appreciated!!
> 
> Katara and Mai are not part of the Club (Mai knows, but she also knows what it is and does not want to join/ Katara does not know, and her brain would short circuit if she found out about it lol) (no Katara hate) ((it is not what you think)) (((...or is it?)))
> 
> Ooft so many people in one room is hard to write (or maybe I'm just bad at it lol)


	2. Zuko Joins A Club

Zuko blinked. Once, twice, three times.

Ty Lee let go of his arm, rushing over to Suki and hugging her so tightly that Zuko was pretty sure he heard a couple bones cracking.

“The what-now?”

She pulled away, and held Suki at arms length, grinning like the Chesire cat, “That was _brilliant_ Suki! Very dramatic! Maybe add jazz hands to the end next time, for a bit of a flair, you know? And maybe work on your spatial awareness, but don’t worry, that just comes from pract-”

“Ty Lee,” Zuko tried, and failed, to get her attention. He turned to Toph instead, “Toph, what is this?”

She grinned just as madly as Ty Lee. “Suki just told you, we’re the Hot Girls Club. You should be honoured, Sparks, you qualified.”

Zuko gaped. Unsure what else to do, he decided to point out the obvious, because apparently everyone else had gone mad, “I’m not a gi-”

Azula cut him off, “Yes, yes, Zuzu, you’re stuck being a member of the lesser gender, you poor thing. But we’re not challenging your manhood. It’s obviously an acronym, dummy.”

“OK, so what’s it an acronym _for_?”

“It stands for ‘Have Once Thought: Goddamn, I Really Love Sokka’ _._ ”

Zuko turned to Yue. Blinked.

“I’m sorry,” _deep breath in, Zuko. OK good, now breathe out,_ “Could you please repeat that.”

Yue looked him dead in the eye. “You heard me,” she said smoothly. She went back to her pottery. It was starting to take some kind of shape. Definitely less blobby, anyway.

Ty Lee stopped rambling at Suki about dance forms and turned to Zuko, eyes shining, “It’s really smart, isn’t it? I came up with the name. I mean, I wasn’t here at the start but c’mon, we’re a club, we have meetings and stuff, we have to have a cool group name!”

Zuko could hardly hear her over the sound of his own heartbeat. His mouth was dry and his head was spinning and god, he really needed to sit down.

As gracefully as he could, he grabbed a stool, setting himself down in front of Ty Lee and Suki. He craned his neck to look at Yue, behind them. He knew Suki and Yue had dated Sokka, and Ty Lee hadn’t exactly been quiet about her crush when she did like him. He looked at Toph, to his left. Bit weird to think about, but sure. And then to his right was-

_“Azula?”_

“I considered it.”

“Oh my god, I hate everything.”

A beat.

“So, just to make sure I’ve got this. You all have crushes on, or- or _love_ Sokka, and so you made a club. To, what? Talk about your feelings?”

“Nah, we just kinda hang out,” Toph said, as if this was a Completely Normal thing, “Sometimes feelings n shit come up- not for Sokka though, ew- but mostly we just chill.”

Suki chimed in, “Yeah, it’s really about _had,_ not _have_. Feelings for Sokka in this group are all past tense. Romantically, anyway. He's a chill dude but, like, none of us actually want to _date_ Sokka anymore. Been there, done that,” she turned and grinned at Yue for a second, before facing Zuko again, “Sokka’s not in the equation anymore. For the five of _us_ , anyway.”

Zuko’s stool scraped harshly against the floor as he stood up, “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” he demanded. His voice cracked, making the end of his sentence sound almost comical. This was not a comical situation.

“Chill out hotshot, don’t try to deny it. Of course _I_ noticed how you’ve been pining over Sokka for months now.” And was he really that obvious about it? Toph _was_ his best friend, so maybe but even then-

“Plus Mai told the rest of us, so.”

This time, Zuko’s reply was instant, “Mai wouldn’t do that.”

“Well no, you’re right- and she didn’t, exactly,” Ty Lee hurried out, then blushed, eyes downcast, “But, uh, she told _me,_ and I’m really sorry, Zuko, I didn't mean to but Azula’s my best friend and I tell her _everything_ and it just sort of slipped out! But turns out she already knew, anyway, and, well, she thought it would be a good idea to invite you to join and get the group involved to help you out and both me and Mai thought it would be fun too!”

Zuko would’ve, maybe _should’ve_ been angry, but in all honesty, even when he was telling Mai he had known that it would probably get back to Ty Lee, and eventually Azula. Maybe he’d wanted it to. He didn’t think it would be this fast- he’d only told Mai, what, last week? But that’s just how the three of them worked, and he had known that, so he didn’t really have the right to be surprised.

“Invite me to join as in abduct me?”

“Yeah! Oh, I’m so happy you’re not mad Zuko, this is going to be so fun!” She leaped you and hugged him, and he couldn’t help but- briefly- hug her back.

He heard the sound of instruments warming up down the hall, and dragged a hand over his face, “I’m missing band practice for this,” he managed to mutter out.

“It’s just one practice, dude, you’ll be fine,” replied Toph, pulling Ty Lee off of him so she could punch him in the arm (again). 

“Toph, nothing about this is _fine_.”

“Stop being so dramatic, asshole, we’re here to help.”

And there it was, exactly what Zuko had been dreading asking about “....help with what, exactly?”

“Well, isn’t it _obvious_ brother dear?”

“No, no, it’s not. I’m very stupid. An absolute fool. Complete shit-for-brains. Please, explain.”

“Aw, Zuzu, don’t be so hard on yourself,” she tilted her head to the side, “Or continue. I don’t care _that_ much.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. At least his sister was the same as always, “Love you too, Azula.”

“You’re welcome. Now, the reason I’ve graciously decided to let you join my-” Suki coughed, “fine, _we_ , as a group, have decided to offer you a place in _our_ club so that we can help you get yourself a date with the dumbass you’ve been drooling over for months now.”

“Sokka’s not a dumbass, he’s actually really smart,” He replied, before remembering that that wouldn’t really help his case, “wait, I don’t droo- and I don’t want to _dat_ -”

Azula was smirking as she watched him struggle, “Yes, you do.”

She didn’t clarify which part of Zuko’s rambling she was addressing, because why would she make this any easier?

“Fine,” _deep breath._ He’d already told Mai, and they all apparently knew anyway so it didn’t really matter, “I’ve got a crush on Sokka. So?”

“You’ve passed the first hurdle, good job man!” Suki said, and Zuko relaxed despite himself at how genuinely _proud_ she sounded, “now you just gotta actually do something about it.”

“And why would I do that?”

She stared blankly at him.

“Told you,” Azula sang, half-chuckling, “he’s oblivious.”

“I didn’t think anyone was really that _blind_ ,” Suki said, apparently dumbstruck. She winced, “No offense, Toph.”

“None taken. And yeah, he’s hopeless.”

“Right here, guys.”

“We know,” Toph replied.

Suki turned back to him, as if seeing him in a new light. That being one that enlightened her to how _hopeless_ he was, apparently. Lovely.

She spoke slowly, “We are here,” she started, “to support you in getting a date with Sokka.”

“Didn’t you guys used to date? Why would you do that?”

She waved him off, “like I said, those feelings are ancient history. We care for each other like you and Mai, y’know? We’re really good friends, but we’re not meant to be anything more, and that’s OK,” and that, Zuko did understand. “I just want him to be happy,” she continued. Then squinted, looking him up and down, “You, too.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“No problem. Whether you want our help with this or not, you’re a part of the club now. We’ve decided.”

Ty Lee jumped in, “We have a plan, by the way, and it will totally work if you let us do it! But if not, that’s OK too,” she wrung her hands together, then blurted out, “ButIreallyreallyhopeyoudo!”

“You don’t have to decide now,” Suki told him, taking pity, “the plan can wait. But you are a member of this club now. Meetings are after school every Wednesday.”

And _thank Agni, he actually had an out,_ “I have work-”

“Nope!” Azula interrupted him again, “I talked to Uncle, and he said that if Jin was OK with it then he was more than happy to let you swap with her for Wednesday’s shift so you could join a fun new club! And Jin was _definitely_ OK with it. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Fantastic,” he muttered. _Goddamn Jin being so goddamn_ nice. 

Suki stood up, “OK! Now that’s sorted, I gotta go, I’ve got a history essay that I wanna finish before the weekend. You coming, Yue, Ty Lee?”

“Yep! See ya later girls-and-Zuko! Ooo, I can’t wait to tell Mai how this went!” because, obviously.

Yue groaned, "Could you tell Starkers that I'll be here next week with something for the kiln?"

"You could probably just show up and she'd let you do whatever. But sure, I'll warn her.”

Yue nodded and packed away her things, taking special care with her blob-of-clay-that-actually-looked-kind-of-like-a-dragon-(?)-now. She didn't bother washing the flecks of clay off of her hands, just stood up and walked out. Suki and Ty Lee followed, talking quietly all the way. 

“I have to go too,” Azula declared once they were gone. She'd spent the time inspecting her nails, as if there was a chance they were anything less than perfectly manicured, “I hope you seriously consider our offer of help. You _do_ need it.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Zuko deadpanned.

She flicked her hair and left. Zuko had no idea what she was going to do, and that was probably how she wanted it. 

He turned to Toph, “So. You had a crush on Sokka?”

“Fuck off _Zuzu_ , it was for, like, a month. Tops.”

He laughed. “You want me to walk you out?” he asked, even though he knew the answer.

“Nah, I’m good thanks. Could you hand me my bag and my stick though?”

He did as she asked. She grabbed his wrist as he did so, making him look up in question. “We all really care about you, y’know.”

“Even Azula?” _You really think this is a good idea?_

“Even Azula.” _Yes, idiot, I really do._

And then Zuko was alone, left with a lot of questions, put to the sound of a brass band slightly muffled through the wall, and the tap tap tap of Toph’s cane making its way down the corridor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grls R Gr8 
> 
> Hope I’m doing all the characters justice!!!  
> Honestly this is such a stupid idea I just HAD to write it lol. I tried to stress the point that NONE of these girls lives/characters revolve around Sokka!! They’re all independent, bad ass girls and I love that for them.
> 
> (We do love Sokka tho)


End file.
